Miss Seychelles National pageant 2020 |09 December 2020
Kelly-Mary Anette, Seychelles’ new beauty queen
Kelly-Mary Anette wins coveted crown
By Christophe Zialor
24-year-old Kelly-Mary Anette outshone 10 other girls in the Miss Seychelles National Pageant 2020 to become the country’s new beauty queen.
She took home the coveted crown after eleven months of gruelling pageant training.
Shannen Henrie was crowned First Princess while Elsia Françoise, the youngest participant of the bunch, was crowned Second Princess.
The pageant was held on Monday evening at the International Conference Centre (ICCS) and broadcast live on SBC2.
Kelly-Mary, who is an economist at the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Trade, will now become the face of MADO who was the main sponsor of the pageant as well as represent Seychelles internationally in the Miss World and Miss Universe competitions.
Besides beauty pageants, Kelly-Mary will also be working with semi orphans which was her beauty with a purpose project. Through her foundation, focus groups will be organised for children who has lost a parent, which will also cater for their psychological wellbeing.
Speaking to the press after being crowned, the Pointe Larue resident expressed her gratitude to everyone who has helped her during her eleven- month journey, noting that without their help she would not have won the title.
As the saying goes ‘heavy lies the head that wears the crown’ and Kelly-Mary is already focusing on her next hurdle which is Miss World. She said that "if I get the same team working with me, I'm going to do well. We are not going to participate in Miss World – we are going to compete."
The First Princess, Shannen Henrie, also expressed her gratitude to her family, friends and sponsors.
She added that as a young professional she will take her title seriously and inspire others.
While she might have been the youngest participant, Elsia Françoise proved to be a worthy contestant. She is already part of the CARITAS charity group which helps vulnerable people in the community. She noted that her crown will help her encourage more people to join the group and help more people.
Kelly-Mary and Shannen also won individual categories during the ceremony. Kelly won a sash for talent while Shannen won People’s Choice and Miss Photogenic.
Other winners included Deidrey Roucou (Miss Sports, Miss Glamorous & Best Evening Wear), Felicita Filipin (Miss Personality, Best Pageant catwalk), Alison Hoareau (Miss Empowerment), Gabriella Gonthier (Best Creative Costume) and Amanda Rose (Pageant Spirit).
In her opening speech, Stephanie Duval, the chairperson of Beauty Empowerment Seychelles (BES), the organiser of the pageant, said that the aim of the competition is to give young women opportunities to express themselves and give them a platform to contribute to society.
She noted that there are far too many misconceptions surrounding beauty pageants; such as it being demeaning of women’s standards or of it reinforcing ideas that only unintelligent girls compete in pageants.
“Let it be known that our contestants have a wide range of abilities, talents and academic background,” she stressed.
Kevin Perine, a member of the organisers, noted that the road to the finale was not an easy one as the Covid-19 pandemic caused them to push back the ceremony from June to December. He added that the economic crisis also caused some of the sponsors to back down.
“However by postponing the pageant it gave our girls more time to rehearse which made for an even better show,” he said.
Margaret Raguin, another member of the organising team and MC for the show, added that after the crowning Kelly will receive further training in preparation for upcoming international pageants.
Besides MADO being the main sponsor of the event, several prizes were financed by other organisations and private groups.
Photos by Louis Toussaint
